Ephesians 2:11-22
When
I was being considered for this position at St. John’s, I was reminded on a few
occasions of the difference between Hampton and Norfolk (which is where I
previously served in a church). I
dismissed these reminders for the most part. My house is 8 miles from here—which
is fairly close. There are plenty of
people who go back and forth between Norfolk and Hampton. I will admit that
doing it in the summer the HRBT is a form of torture, but other than that, it’s
really not a major problem.
Early on in my time
here, it became clear to me that Hampton and Norfolk are different, a lot more
different than Norfolk and Virginia Beach or Norfolk and Chesapeake. There is a different culture. It’s quite
fascinating. We have this division
despite modern transportation and communication that is light years ahead of
what it was 25 years ago. It’s odd
because normally we associate walls with things that divide us, and bridges
with things that connect us. Yet in
Hampton Roads, it is bridges that divide us. Sometimes, I feel like we are East
and West Berlin in 1965.
This
reading from Ephesians can seem a little irrelevant at first glance. Once the Bible starts talking about
circumcision, most Christians tune out.
When Paul referred to those circumcised, he is talking about Jewish
people. When he referred to the uncircumcised, that was everyone else. The circumcision was a physical sign of a
very real commitment that the Jewish people made. At this time (about 70AD), the division
between the circumcised and uncircumcised was like North and South Korea
today. That’s not completely accurate,
because people did interact with one another.
However it was that drastic. If
there were interactions between Jew and non-Jew, those interactions were
superficial and limited. There were no
meals together, no inter-marriage, no friendships.
In
his letter to the Ephesians, Paul was saying that this barrier (as impermeable
as it seemed) was no longer relevant or necessary because Jesus died on the
cross for all. They were no longer Jew
and no longer Gentile. They were
Christians, followers of Christ and that is all that mattered. Paul wrote, “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and
has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us.” A lot of people have tried to figure out
what wall he was referring to. Was it
the wall that divided the temple from the outer courts? Was it a wall between heaven and earth?
I am not sure why we debate it as it
seems to me that the text is clear. It’s
the hostility between us. There is no
real wall. Humans manufactured the wall
through fear, jealously, anger, and apathy.
The wall was created by humans for humans. Unfortunately we build pretty good walls,
even when they aren’t physical. That is
why Jesus had to live as one of us and then sacrifice himself on the cross. He
had to show us what it was to love without walls.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were
far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Hearing about the
blood of Christ has the same effect on some of us as hearing the word
circumcision. In many Christian
communities, there has been an overemphasis on the blood of Jesus. Some people and groups have attributed magic
like qualities to the body and blood of Jesus.
It is the opposite of magical.
The blood of Jesus, and the broken body of Jesus are reminders of Jesus’
sacrifice for each one of us. Jesus did
not make the sacrifice only for one group or one country. Jesus sacrificed for all of us. If we can truly accept that, we can find ways
to come together. We always say that God
loves everyone, but we rarely act like it.
Someone gave me a little coaster that says, “Jesus loves everyone, but I
am his favorite.” We might not say it
out loud, but we act like that a lot. If we can try to believe that Jesus died
on the cross for every one of us in every part of this world, we might be more
inclined to make our own sacrifices.
In
this text, Paul wrote, “He (Jesus) is our peace.” He doesn’t write that he
brought peace. He does not refer to him as the Prince of Peace. He says, “Jesus is our peace.” It is one of the most achingly beautiful
ironies of the Christian faith--that the way Jesus embodied peace was to be
executed by the Roman Empire. We cannot
be sure exactly why the Romans executed Jesus.
However, it is most likely because they were afraid that he would
inspire people to revolt. They
recognized Jesus as a leader and one who could inspire the masses. The Roman
Empire maintained peace through oppression.
They killed the people who threatened their rule. Jesus’ mere existence threatened their rule. The
irony is that this violent sacrifice that Jesus made paved the way for real
peace, not peace maintained through violence and fear, but real peace.
I
am not overly concerned about the divisiveness of the Hampton Roads Bridge
Tunnel (unless of course it’s taking more over an hour to drive 8 miles), but I
am concerned about the walls of hostility that we are building all over the
world. Humanity has become adept at
erecting walls and that terrifies me. A
couple of years ago, a giant rubber duck ended up in Norfolk. This thing is 6 stories tall and travels all around the world. What astounded me was the number of people
from Hampton who went to Norfolk to get a picture the duck. (You know who you are.) These were people who
would never go to Norfolk normally, but the rubber duck brought them
there. I thought, is this really all we
need to bring us together---a 6 story rubber duck? Alas, the duck had to move on to its next
port and that ended our temporary connection.
But it made me wonder what it would take to start dismantling our
walls. What is it going to take motivate
us? So often what brings us together is
tragedy. I don’t want to wait for
another tragedy. Frankly, I am not even
convinced that would bring us together anymore.
We
celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday.
One of the things we do in communion is we remember the sacrifice that
Jesus made for us 2000 years ago. Jesus knows
that humans are fickle and tend to forget things. That is why he asked his
disciples to share the bread and wine in memory of him. Because not only do we remember the sacrifice
when we celebrate communion, we come to this table together. Just for a few
minutes, we remember that Jesus died so we could dismantle the walls and live
as the community of believers.
Think
of the history of St. John’s, all of the people who have gathered together at the
altar. People fought wars in this town. People on opposing sides eventually came
together at the altar. Our altar stands
as a reminder of what we are called to do as Christians. We cannot let it end here at the altar. Church isn’t a temporary cease fire. It’s a window into God’s dream for us. Let’s open the windows and show people what it
is to be the household of God for the whole world.
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